MANILA (PHILIPPINES)
Catholic Herald [London, England]
January 30, 2025
Catholic bishops in the Philippines have been accused of having a “deep sense of entitlement”, displaying unyielding arrogance when it comes to withholding information on abuse carried out by priests in their dioceses.
The criticism follows the release of new data provided by BishopAccountability.org, a leading anti-abuse organisation, which details how at least 82 priests and religious brothers associated with the Philippines have publicly been accused of sexual abuse involving children.
At least seven of the accused priests continue to serve in parishes across the Asian island nation, some as recently as last month, Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of BishopAccountability.org, said on 29 January.
She told journalists that the Philippine bishops have a “deep sense of entitlement”, adding: “These are men who fear nothing.”
The database of accused clerics, which is now on the BishopAccountability.org website, includes Filipino priests accused of sexually abusing children in the Philippines; Filipino priests accused of sexually abusing children while working in the US; and clergy from other countries – specifically, the United States, Ireland, and Australia – who are accused of abuse while serving part of their priesthood in the Philippines.
The Philippines has a population of over 114 million people and around 80 per cent are Catholic. There are also over 11 million Filipinos living outside the country.
BishopAccountability.org says the external mechanisms that have forced accountability on Catholic bishops elsewhere – litigation by victims, probes of Church entities by prosecutors, inquiries by government commissions and substantial investigations by local news media – have rarely occurred or not at all in the world’s third largest Catholic country.
“The database reveals the distinctive aspects of the Catholic abuse crisis in the Philippines, and the degree to which much remains hidden,” the organisation says.
“Most of the cases…involve abuse that has occurred since 2000 and was reported to law enforcement quickly – within just a few years of occurrence. We know from Catholic abuse data published elsewhere that such cases comprise a small part of the total scope of the problem.”
As a result, BishopAccountability.org states: “This list of 82 clerics, then, is the tip of the iceberg. It’s a fraction of the total number of accused clerics who would be known if Philippine Church leaders were required to report child sexual abuse to law enforcement, if its legal system made it easier for victims to file civil claims against complicit church leaders, if clergy sex abuse victims were more broadly supported, or if dioceses and religious orders were investigated by prosecutors or state commissions.”
As an indication of the Philippine Church’s apparent impunity – or reluctance to take action – BishopAccountability.org notes that, according to Philippine bishop Buenaventura Famadico, in a country with more than 80 million Catholics, not one priest has been criminally convicted of sexual abuse involving children or vulnerable adults.
Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David, the bishop of the Diocese of Kalookan and president of the Philippine bishops’ conference, said in a statement that an special office has been established headed by an archbishop and a team of bishops and experts to safeguard children.
“Our mandate from Rome is to take the issue of accountability very seriously, especially those related to alleged abuse cases involving priests,” the cardinal said.
He noted that individual bishops have authority over accused priests in the Philippines, before adding:
“As a conference of bishops, we merely build a consensus among ourselves about common policies to be adopted. Only Rome, represented by the Nuncio, has direct disciplinary authority over individual bishops,” the cardinal said.